Breakdown of Förövaren bör ha vetat var gömstället fanns.
var
where
ha
to have
veta
to know (facts, information)
böra
should, ought to
finnas
to exist, to be there
förövaren
the perpetrator
gömstället
the hiding place
Questions & Answers about Förövaren bör ha vetat var gömstället fanns.
Does bör ha vetat mean they were supposed to know it, or that they probably knew it?
In this context, it expresses a logical deduction about the past, meaning it is highly likely that they knew. While bör often means 'should' in the sense of an obligation, when combined with ha plus a supine verb like vetat, it typically expresses strong epistemic probability. The speaker is piecing together clues and concluding that the perpetrator logically must have had this knowledge.
Why is fanns used here instead of var for 'was'?
While var is the direct translation of 'was', Swedish strongly prefers the passive/deponent verb finnas (past tense fanns) when talking about where things are located or exist. You will often see fanns used for physical locations, so var gömstället fanns sounds much more natural to a Swedish ear than var gömstället var, which can sound clunky and repetitive.
Why is the word order var gömstället fanns and not var fanns gömstället?
Because this is an indirect question acting as a subordinate clause. In a direct question, the verb comes right after the question word (Var fanns gömstället?). But when the question is embedded in a larger sentence, the subject comes before the verb, giving us the standard subordinate clause order: question word (var) plus subject (gömstället) plus verb (fanns).
What is the root of the word förövaren?
It comes from the verb föröva, which means to commit or perpetrate, usually referring to a crime or a bad deed. The suffix -are turns it into the person doing the action, similar to '-er' in English, and the -n at the end makes it a definite noun, meaning 'the perpetrator'.
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